The ad shows a guy trying to use his iPad by the pool, without very much luck given the bright sunny day. He asks the girl next to him how she's able to read, and she responds: "It's a Kindle."
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I thought this ad was pretty interesting for 2 reasons:
1. The ad is a direct attack on Apple
2. The iPad has not established a significant presence in the ebook market yet. The main competitors are still Kindle and Nook.
It'll be interesting to see if Apple responds to this ad, or if they just let it slide!
I'll give you a dollar if Apple responds.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how reasonable it is for Amazon to compare Kindle to the iPad, but not vice versa. It makes me think the Amazon is actually benefitting from the iPad's existence. Has anyone seen numbers on Kindle sales pre- and post- iPad launch?
Apple would probably only respond with a comparison ad if the iPad were being compared to a slab of solid gold, or perhaps a Microsoft tablet ;)
I think Amazon benefits by being a single-purpose device with a very good set of books on its stores, a great recommendation engine and apps that allow users to consume their books on multiple devices such as PCs, phones and tablets. It is a nice dig on one of the limiting features of iPad but overall, I think Jeff Bezos is happy that iPad (along with other tablets) is gaining acceptance. Then, he can sell more books for sure. Both on Kindle and enabled through Kindle apps.
ReplyDeleteScott - I had the same question as you regarding Kindle sales as they relate to the iPad launch. It seems, though, that Kindle sales were taking off well before the release date of the iPad:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2010/04/16/amazon_kindle_sales_figures_released
Granted, I didn't find any Kindle sales information post-iPad launch, probably due to Amazon's tight lipped approach regarding this info.
So many trends are heading toward integration of various functions in a single device...the iPad can use the Kindle app (well, my iPhone can so at the very least one can run that...) so if anything it's the best of both worlds! How will the Kindle keep up?
ReplyDelete